Why'd the Byrds cover Dylan songs so much? *

Dunno about that one, but here's the cover of the new The Trolls Do Itzhak Perlman cd!

 

I agree with the statement that song writers want other people to record their songs.
John Hiaitt recently said, "Bonny Raitt put my kid through college with "Thing Called Love".
Tom Waits thanked Rod Stewart for recording "Downtown Train".
Hootenanny was blasted out of the water by the Beatles so Bob Dylan needed the exposer that the Byrds gave his songs. The Byrds covered his songs because they were good.

 

Whenever I hear Simon and Garfunkel's cover of Jackson Frank's "Blues Run the Game," I think of the huge difference they could have made to his life by including it on the Sound of Silence album.

 

That's not the case at all. I gave an opinion on something, then I checked out what others had to say. I didn't feel the need to respond to other opinions, because that's what they are--opinions. I also wasn't pleased to annoy our host. I learned several things, not the least of which was that the Byrds didn't record as many versions of Dylan songs as I would have thought.

 

But there is an entire cd called The Byrds cover Dylan or something along those lines. Features some live tracks, demos, outtakes, etc.

 

Dylan, Birds, AWOL

Bob Dylan was one of the greatest song writers of all time but, let's face it, you'd have to put his voice in a different category. Except maybe for the Nashville Skyline album, where he warmed things up a bit. That said, I try to have compassion for posters who go AWOL: sometimes it's out of embarrassment for having had an obviously mistaken idea, I certainly have had that experience myself.

 

Why'd the Byrds cover Dylan songs so much?

Hi,

Why did Jerry?

Take care,
Jeffrey

 

A Whole Lot Better

You're right, "Better" is one of the best "non-45" songs of all time, and the lyrics are something that I suspect a lot of guys can relate to!

 

Assembled in 1979, long after the band had broken up, from existing recordings that spanned their career. A completely different animal from The Hollies' Words and Music by Bob Dylan, whose tracks were specifically recorded for that LP.

 

Actually, they weren't. Already recording together for about two years, they first charted Bubbling Under with the original pressing of "Baby Don't Go" in late '64. Cher's first Hot 100 entry was of course "All I Really Want To Do," a week ahead of their breakthrough hit--and standard--"I Got You Babe." The success of both prompted Atco to not only reissue "Just You" and save it from oblivion, but put out Sonny's solo "Laugh At Me," which probably wouldn't have sold nearly as well if "Babe" hadn't kicked open the door. So the duo had three parallel gigs going: Sonny & Cher, Cher, Sonny, and how many acts could have gotten away with that? But it was a Dylan song that made radio acceptance easier. Yeah, they were riding the Byrds' coattails, but so what? As it was, Cher's version was no big deal--really, the Byrds' version should have done better than it did--but did the trick for them. If Sonny felt like a hot shot during the second half of '65, hard to blame him, he was hot, and so were they. Very unlikely success story, since they weren't the most photogenic couple, but that seeming outsider status probably helped them.